Market History

Three bubbles from three centuries and the pattern that repeats in all of them. They differ in almost everything, only the course they take is always the same. That's why they're worth knowing.

See all the bubbles together with the case studies in one timeline →

Tulip mania, 1637In 17th-century Holland, prices for rare tulip bulbs briefly reached absurd heights and collapsed abruptly in February 1637. It's an early, well-documented price bubble.The 1929 crashAfter years of rising prices and heavily expanded debt financing, the US stock market collapsed in October 1929. By its 1932 low, it had lost roughly ninety percent.The dot-com bubble, 2000In the late 1990s, internet company prices rose dramatically, often with no profits and sometimes no revenue. After peaking in March 2000, the tech-heavy index lost roughly eighty percent.Why every bubble looks the sameBubbles differ in their object and resemble each other in how they unfold. Five phases have repeated for centuries, and the traits are recognizable during the event, even if not provable.